Electric generators are well known devices for generating electricity by turning an armature of a plurality of copper wires through the magnetic flux produced in the field coil by passing electricity through copper wire wrapped around cores of soft iron. The electricity generated in the armature is withdrawn by slip rings as A.C. current, or by a commutator as D.C. current. Very little time has been spent in the prior art on generators which induce the current in the field coil. Such a generator is described in U.S. Pat. to Smith, Jr. and Sharron, No. 4,612,470, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,380 by the same inventors. These inventions describe generators having a stationary field coil, a rotatable armature of permanent magnets, and between the coil and the armature a rotatable warp sleeve of alternating strips of magnetically conductive material and magnetically nonconductive material. While these devices are operable and efficient, there are improvements which have been found to make the devices even more satisfactory.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved electric generator of the type which induces current in the field coil. It is another object of the invention to provide an improvement wherein the permanent magnets rotate outside the confinement of the field coil. Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.